Data Storage

When id Software's RAGE video game started flaunting "4K textures" around, there was much debate on the practicality of that amount of data versus what our eyes can distinguish and what our beefiest PCs can handle. And now Intel and Micron, two of the biggest names in the semiconductor industry, wants us thinking about 8K games already? That said, it isn't about the absurdity of the idea but about how its new 3D XPoint memory technology can make it possible, beating the hell out of the popular and steadfast NAND flash storage we have today.

Samsung Electronics has just launched a pair of new solid state drive (SSD) hard drives, each featuring a whopping storage capacity of 2 terabytes. The 2TB SSD 850 PRO and 850 EVO models feature Samsung's Vertical NAND flash chips, and are among the largest storage options now available in retail SSDs. Samsung says the new drives will be available in 50 countries, however exact pricing wasn't revealed.

At MWC early last March, Sandisk wowed the crowd with what we thought is the highest capacity microSD card so far. Well, it can still cling to that title for now, as it is truly the highest capacity microSD card available in the market. Yes, Sandisk has finally made its 200 GB microSD card available and one can buy it on Amazon already. But while the little card is ready to store thousands of photos and hours of footage, do be aware that you will be paying twice as much for it.

Synology has rolled out a couple new network attached storage options known as NAS servers. The new equipment includes the DiskStation DS215+ and the DiskStation DS715. The two NAS devices look very similar on the outside, but have different hardware on the inside. Both do have some similarities though with hardware encryption engines and compact designs.

SanDisk may have just unveiled their crowning glory at Computex, the 200 GB microSDXC card, but already they have some tough competition, depending on how you look at it. On the same Computex floor, a company called Microdia is flaunting a microSD card that has more than double that capacity. Yes, welcome the 512 GB microSDXC card. This one is set to go out in July if everything goes well for Microdia, but it is going to carry a prohibitively expensive price tag that very few consumers will be able to afford.

Data storage is about to get insane. Just a few years ago, terabytes of storage was almost a dream or at least a very expensive reality. But now even the most expensive type, SSDs, are getting oodles of them. But while we have indeed seen SSDs measuring 4 TB or more, Fixstars claims it just one upped the industry. At least for now. The 6 TB of its upcoming SSD-6000M might not sound that much in the face of 8 TB drives, but it has one thing no other SSD can claim: a 2.5-inch size.

Our mobile devices are getting more and more capable, both in creating content as well as playing them, so it is only fitting that data storage should catch up to them as well. Samsung already unveiled its UHS 2.0 NAND storage used for internal memory, particularly in the Galaxy S6, and now it's turning its attention to external storage as well. Samsung is adding two new members to its SD and microSD card family, the PRO Plus and the EVO Plus, with the promise of smooth handling of UHD and FHD content.

In the HBO comedy Silicon Valley, Richard and his team, Pied Piper, accidentally create a lossless compression algorithm, whipping all of the big tech companies of the fictional world into a frenzy over the potential in the inadvertent discovery. Today, at the Disrupt New York Hackathon, a team of siblings, Nancy Ghaly and Peter Ma debuted their own lossless compression algorithm. Taking inspiration from the HBO series, the duo named it Piper Pied. The real-life Piper Pied is a compression algorithm that identifies people's faces and compresses the data around them.

Buffalo has unveiled a new portable hard drive that has storage space and a couple important security features built in. The goal of the new portable hard drive is to protect any personal or business data you put on the drive from being stolen by hackers in the event that the drive it lost or stolen. The new drive is the Buffalo MiniStation Extreme NFC portable hard drive.

Even small business have data needs, and some quickly outgrow the capabilities and storage capacities of homegrown and assembled storage solutions. Plus, with the ubiquity and popularity of the cloud, some are opting to include remote access to their setup. These types of scenarios are what Synology is trying to address, especially with its two new NAS boxes now available from its retail partners. The new DiskStation DS1515 and RackStation815 were designed to deliver storage, speed, and protection without requiring SMBs to invest in more expensive server solutions.